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US 11,320,196 B2Granted
Process integration for natural gas liquid recovery
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsMahmoud Bahy Mahmoud Noureldin, Akram Hamed Mohamed Kamel, Abdulaziz A. AlNajjar
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Abstract
This specification relates to operating industrial facilities, for example, crude oil refining facilities or other industrial facilities that include operating plants that process natural gas or recover natural gas liquids.
Claims21
A natural gas liquid recovery system comprising:
- a plurality of hot process streams comprising:
- a feed gas;
- a dehydrated first chill down vapor from one or more feed gas dehydrators of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- and
- a chill down vapor from a second chill down separator of the natural gas liquid recovery system
- a plurality of cold process streams comprising:
- a high pressure residue gas from a third chill down separator of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- an overhead low pressure residue gas from a de-methanizer column of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- a de-methanizer reboiler feed from the de-methanizer column;
- and
- a de-methanizer bottoms from the de-methanizer column;
- a cold box comprising a plurality of compartments that segment a plate-fin heat exchanger into a plurality of sections, each compartment of the cold box configured to transfer heat from one or more of the plurality of hot process streams to one or more of the plurality of cold process streams, the cold box configured to transfer heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the high pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box, from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the overhead low pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box, from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer bottoms through one of the compartments of the cold box, and from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer reboiler feed through one of the compartments of the cold box;
- and
- a refrigeration system configured to receive heat through the cold box, the refrigeration system comprising:
- a primary refrigerant loop in fluid communication with the cold box, the primary refrigerant loop comprising a primary refrigerant comprising a first mixture of hydrocarbons;
- a secondary refrigerant loop comprising a secondary refrigerant comprising i-butane;
- a first subcooler configured to transfer heat between the primary refrigerant of the primary refrigerant loop and the secondary refrigerant of the secondary refrigerant loop;
- and
- a second subcooler downstream of the first subcooler, the second subcooler configured to transfer heat between the primary refrigerant and a vapor phase of the primary refrigerant.
16 more elements
A method for recovering natural gas liquid from a feed gas, the method comprising:
- transferring heat from a plurality of hot process streams to a plurality of cold process streams through a cold box, the cold box comprising a plurality of compartments that segment a plate-fin heat exchanger into a plurality of sections, wherein transferring heat from the plurality of hot process streams to the plurality of cold process streams through the cold box comprises transferring heat from one or more of the plurality of hot process streams to one or more of the plurality of cold process streams through each compartment of the cold box, the plurality of hot process streams comprising:
- a feed gas;
- a dehydrated first chill down vapor from one or more feed gas dehydrators of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- and
- a chill down vapor from a chill down separator of the natural gas liquid recovery system, and the plurality of cold process streams comprising:
- a high pressure residue gas from another chill down separator of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- an overhead low pressure residue gas from a de-methanizer column of the natural gas liquid recovery system;
- a de-methanizer reboiler feed from the de-methanizer column;
- and
- a de-methanizer bottoms from the de-methanizer column;
- and
- transferring heat to a refrigeration system through the cold box, the refrigeration system comprising:
- a primary refrigerant loop in fluid communication with the cold box, the primary refrigerant loop comprising a primary refrigerant comprising a first mixture of hydrocarbons;
- a secondary refrigerant loop comprising a secondary refrigerant comprising i-butane;
- a first subcooler;
- and
- a second subcooler;
- transferring heat from the primary refrigerant to the secondary refrigerant using the first subcooler;
- and
- transferring heat from the primary refrigerant to a vapor phase of the primary refrigerant using the second subcooler, wherein transferring heat from the plurality of hot process streams to the plurality of cold process streams through the cold box comprises:
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the high pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box;
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the overhead low pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box;
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer bottoms through one of the compartments of the cold box;
- and
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer reboiler feed through one of the compartments of the cold box.
22 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.